Villa Rentals..... money will not be returned !!!
 

If you had a Villa rental booked earlier this year and were told you could changed the date, then you have to cancel as your government, Canada, Europe or UK, will still NOT allow you to travel, and / or the US government will NOT allow you entry , The Villages WILL NOT give you a refund.

QUESTION......So who is keeping this money, the owner, or the villages. Even a 50% refund would be a kindness in these very difficult times. If the villa remain empty you have still made money to cover the basics.

Either way it is bad business practice, and a sure fire way to make plenty of cash for no outlay. Perhaps both Owners and Villages can try thinking of what will happen NEXT YEAR... A friend who is 73 is $2350 out of pocket, and they are suggesting they re-book next year... you must be joking... we are not all millionaires.....some take 2 years to save that money.

If you are allowed to change the date I don't see the problem, the borders will eventually open fully. I had reservations at Hilton Head for late March and even thought the resort closed due to the virus I was offered only an opportunity to re-book within one year, no refund.

Is this a Villages owned property that is rented to experience The Villages life style for interested buyers, or is it a house owned by a private individual? I'm not aware of The Villages renting houses other than the experiencing The Villages lifestyle. What does the rental agreement say on the matter of cancellations or rescheduling? That is the governing legal factor.

Why would your friends lose their money if they rescheduled for a later date? Again, what does the rental agreement say? If the property is privately owned The Villages won't be entitled to any money.

Did he rent trough Hometown property management or another company?

I suspect that you may not have all of the information on this

If there were travel restrictions and one could change the date...that was the 'heads up thing to do'....that's what we did
with lodging and air travel...ya just keep pushing it out until you can get a refund or 'bank' the money with them

A small Inn that we had paid close to $2K in advance for a 4 night escape is not refunding the money that we paid and planned to stay with them this past April...but they're holding it in a 'bank' for us to use between now and 2023

I would have preferred to receive a full refund...but the fine print that I unknowingly agreed to when I booked early and received a discounted rate stated no refunds

I had a rental booked for May, but because of the ban on foreign travel we were unable to take the rental, but the owner of the home has been fantastic sayIng they would work with us and we have moved the booking now to September and extended our stay, and if the world is still in turmoil come September then I am confident they will allow us to move it to next year, this kind of goodwill is why we will continue to rent from this couple many more time in the future, is about the bigger picture and a long term out look on both sides.

We are no saints but when our renters had to leave early because of the virus we gave them a full refund. They were from Canada.
Why? Because it was the right thing to do. I'm a firm believer in what goers around comes around.

Op I read your post more than once. You are bringing up multiple scenarios. Is this a lifestyle, for $2350. Then it would be the developer, who is offering to change the date.
Is it a property management company, for a private individual? Then the property owner has no say on what happens to the $$ since they are under contract with management company.
Or is it an individual they are dealing with? Since it’s not you, info is second hand and not sure anyone can help you. Other than an offer was made to rebook, and did the person in question buy travel insurance?

Rentals
 

poor business practice on everyone.

The Villages or property managment should put the money that the people pay to rent toward next year rental it’s only fair
The villages has gotten to big and greddy and doesn’t care about its owners or the people that rent there all resorts and big hotels have accommodated there renters and that is why people go back

We had a Canadian couple a couple of years ago who had a family emergency and we refunded their money in full. Getting the sales tax back was a bit of a hassle but after a couple of months, that was settled.

Poor business or a crapshoot? There are 13 million business and always another sucker.

I had a tenant from the NY area who did not want to leave at the end of April. I let them stay until they were ready to go home at my carrying cost only which was $45 a day. But this is why the majority of my tenants are repeat customers.

Have openings for August through December due to cancellations from folks from Europe who were concerned about the travel. Gave one a full refund and the other a reschedule to the following year which is what each wanted.

Just treat folks the way you would want to be treated if you were in their situation. Will you get cheated sometime? Probably, but you will also get rewarded many times over.

We had the same experience. Even though our signed agreement stated, no refunds, due to the current situation, the owner felt it was the right thing to do to return our money. I wasn’t expecting it but I will certainly rebook with them when the time is right. I’ll also refer them to others.

The Morse Syndicate doesn"t care. if they will not give a break on business closures due to covid why vacation rentals.

No standard business practice

Did you mean to say if you were told you COULD NOT change the date? “You could changed the date”, makes no sense.

Our standard rental agreement states no refunds unless we were able to rent the time slot to another party. We had cancellations for the entire winter season. We decided the right thing to do was give everyone a full refund. It just seemed wrong to keep the funds in this circumstance. One renter from Canada really needed the funds to assist one of their children that had a business struggling due to Covid-19. There is something to be said for doing the right thing!

we would have pro rated & refunded the difference - either way, good show ! obviously they would prefer renting from you rather than us ;-)

The Villages Hometown Management rents out homes that have been put in their portfolio of homes to rent. You can rent all year long, monthly, etc. I did that for years before I finally bought. We were never on a 'lifestyle visit'.

You are FANTASTIC Papa Muzzy!!! I lost 1/3 of my March villa time when Canadian government told us to come back ASAP. No refund offered. It added up to almost $900 loss for me.

You have jumped to a rather big conclusion without really having all the facts.

:what:

OP, from your post it sounds like you are referring to a friend of yours who had a vacation home rented from Hometown Rentals. If you haven’t already done so, I would suggest you contact Hometown Rentals direct and get the information regarding their rental policy during the pandemic. Legally they may have no obligation to refund your friends money but perhaps they may allow (given the situation) to change his arrival date and come to The Villages at a later date. These are confusing “times”. Good luck with trying to help your friend.

TV does do rentals. Villagershomes4rent.com

Travel insurance is inexpensive and would refund almost all of the funds
Did the Villages suggest this?

Keep$, refund$, or offer change of dates?
 

LOTs of potential variables need to be considered here.
We have a house and use a management company to handle it. In our case, the management company received requests to cancel due to covid. Our company asked us how we wanted to handle this. We believe in the Golden Rule and said to give them their money back.
Hopefully, they will appreciate this and re-book when they can and recomend our property in the future.

The developers (the Morse family) owns a property management company that manages rentals for private owners, called TV Hometown Property Management. Not sure if they own any of the rentals themselves or not.

:ohdear: That site has NOTHING to do with the Villages Holding Co. It's a private business. There is a part of the Villages Holding Co. that does rentals..... Home Time Prop. Management. :ho: The OP has secondhand info. and is trying to make it 3rd. hand. :faint: And let's not forget the haters jumping in with NO information at all.

Our scheduled April tenants were from NY and chose in mid-March to not to come down due to things being shut down in The Villages. We didn’t offer a reschedule since we were moving permanently to our home this month. We also chose to do the right thing by refunding their rental fee for April. We retained the security deposit only. Plus, I’m thankful that there was then no potential chance that the virus was brought into our home from New York.

I agree with you 100%.

I am so sorry to read this and I feel for you! We had rented a home for April directly from the owner. The lease clearly stated "no refunds" if cancelled. Obviously, we had to cancel. When I called the landlord, I was fully prepared to hear that we wouldn't get our money back. Imagine our surprise when we were refunded the deposit, full month's rent and the cleaning fee! The landlord was so kind and said that this was a unique time and that she wouldn't feel right about keeping our money. There are still good and kind people out there.

We refunded our Michigan April renters I would check with the governors department I believe they have to refund it

Thanks for the variety of replies... Hindsight.....The friend should have the left the rental in place.. , if the situation changed and they got here good.....even if the UK visitor could not get here, they would still have lost their money anyway. At least this scenario stops the renter, or villages from making money out of a bad situation. Then they could not re- rent the villa. My friend is "not a sucker" as suggested. Victim of the virus, and saved for 2 years for this vacation. 50% refund would have helped. Thank you 12ridehd may book with you in the future...and you too Sutty !!! The final straw offering a DOLLAR check refund.. un cashable in the UK, in the renters name. Even though I paid the rental in US dollars from my account here in the Villages. Dana 1963 you are right !!!!

Rental $
 

Same thing happened to me. Rented March & April. Left March 23. They would not reimburse for April. Bad business practices in light of pandemic & The Villages ability to work with renter!!!

Huh?
 

I gave a thumbs up on your response, however, after reading it a few times I keep getting stuck on the "We are no saints". Would you care to expand? That could be interesting.:1rotfl:

You are so uninformed.

What did your Travel Insurance Company have to say about this?

The Villages Developer has nothing to do with this web site..

The right thing to do is refund the money. If they want to keep $100 for future advertising that would be even generous. Shame on all those that keep the money and users can not use due to the epidemic.